BLOOMINGTON — Zeta Coffee, 301 N. Main St. in downtown Bloomington, is this week's pick for Eats of the Week.
The café owned by Bloomington native Joel Aper opened June 16 inside the new location of Red Raccoon Games, with a walk-up window available to serve customers from the sidewalk.
Zeta also maintains locations inside the Four Seasons II, 2401 Airport Road, Bloomington, and in Downs, where it opened alongside The Union Café on April 1 before taking over the entire space. The Downs café is at 201 S. Seminary St.
Bloomington native Joel Aper shows off the walk-up window at the new Zeta Coffee, 301 N. Main St. in downtown Bloomington. The business is located inside the new site of Red Raccoon Games.
Aper has worked in the restaurant industry his whole life. He recently worked in a coffee shop and bakery for the last four years before deciding to venture out on his own, and come back to Bloomington after living in Tennessee.
"I'm beyond excited to really just experiment. It's been a dream for years to have my own company, and I'm super excited to just have fun with it and see where it goes," Aper said. "I've always had a love for cafés and coffee shops from studying and hanging out with friends there, but I just started studying coffee over the last few years in depth and I loved it."
Zeta serves coffee, including lattes and other espresso-based drinks, tea, boba drinks, pastries, hot chocolate, ice cream, Italian soda, breakfast burritos, smoothies and more. The business offers catering for weddings, parties and other events, and has brought pop-up shops to local churches and Rivian Automotive.
While Zeta maintains a few partnerships with other businesses, including syrup companies, Aper said they are focused on creating their own recipes and house-made syrups. They even locally source their lavender and honey.
Part of Zeta's mission is to give back to farmers and the community; another goal is to serve only compostable products. Every cup sold goes towards that mission, he said.
Barista Madison Cole works on a latte order at Zeta Coffee.
"A friend told me there's a psychology article or study that says that businesses that start with the letter 'Z' are more attractive and more dominant at first glance," Aper said. "There's nothing crazy symbolic about it; it's just something different."
Fan favorite menu items include the vanilla iced latte and the honey lavender latte.
The Downs location offers 16 ice cream flavors that Zeta inherited from The Union's supplier, and the Bloomington location serves eight flavors. The locations will also offer seasonal drink items.
Aper said he believes Zeta is the first coffee shop or restaurant in downtown Bloomington to have a walk-up window. Customers will be able to order through the window, even when the game store is closed.
"We want to be able to offer specialty coffee or just something for past 5 p.m.," Aper said. "The mission of my company is to help people and help the world, mentor my team. If it means we're selling coffee, we're selling car tires, I don't really care as long as we're helping."
Aper said he plans to offer later operating hours when the college students return in the fall. He also plans to offer a late night menu for the bar crowds.
Contact Olivia Jacobs at 309-820-3352. Follow Olivia on Twitter: @olivia___jacobs
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